Well, that was fun: Carolina just wrapped up an utterly dominant 69-24 victory over the Troy Trojans. While it may be hard to believe, the game wasn't ever really that close, as Carolina was winning 56-7 at the half and was at that point clicking on all cylinders. This is a solid win for a program that has often struggled to win with gusto in games like this.
A few quick thoughts / topics for discussion:
3. There was no letdown. Perhaps the most impressive thing about this performance is that we didn't look flat after last week's huge performance. Granted, ugly turnovers by Troy had something to do with the 50+-point outburst in the first half, but the optimist in me wants to take this game as an indication that this team has matured enough over the course of the year to play at a high level week in and week out.
2. It was nice to see both some big individual performances by our stars and some of the backups and unsung heroes get some time. Stephen Garcia, Alshon Jeffery, and Marcus Lattimore got to pad their stats a bit, while stalwarts like Patrick DiMarco, Ace Sanders, Brian Maddox, and Jason Barnes got more touches than usual and backups like Matt Grooms and Seth Strickland got a chance to finally see the field and enjoy a reward for their hard work.
1. It's now officially rivalry week. Do we step it up and pay Clemson back for 2003 or do we play uninspired and let the Tigers make a game of it? I think we can all agree that we'd like to give the Tigers what-for after all the years of suffering against them, but I wonder how much the game means to Spurrier. We'll see. Hopefully the good performance today is a sign of what's to come in Death Valley, but, even in a down year for the Tigers, Troy is certainly no Clemson. I expect a tough game.